Would you like to see a public Beta of Snow Leopard like Microsoft is doing with Windows 7?
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Poll
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Comments (60)
By the way, this is a big fat clue. Expect a Public Beta of Snow Leopard in the next few weeks :D
Also, those worried about Microsoft, think for a second. Do you think that Microsoft doesn't have the beta way before anyone else? Who is the biggest software developer for Mac? Even if Apple tried to hide it from them, they'd pay a developer $1000 for a copy. Or download it off a torrent.
YES!!!!!!!!
Do you actually have some knowledge of this or just taking an educated guess? Either is fine, I'm just wondering.
yeah we got a tip but it was pretty vague
Or they just sign up to the Apple Developer Connection?
Yeah, I would like to see one, but I doubt Apple would do that.. Have they done something like this before ?
yes, they did that with the OS X Public Beta, but it was paid-for, not free like Microsoft's public betas
Apple really hasn't had good luck in the past with passing out their work in progress. Apple did lend a copy of the original MacOS to Microsoft...and they announced their own GUI shell shortly after.
I know Snow Leopard might not be as big of a deal, but I can see why Apple has taken their total secret approach to releases.
Since when has Apple followed Microsoft in what they do. Expect a public release to buy in June! There is a reason Apple OS's are far superior because they have good beta tester, not average people just downloading to "see" it
Surely the best beta testers for an OS are the OS users themselves, after all who else is Snow Leopard being built for?
A public beta would be a huge distraction.
Apple has great beta testers who know how to be beta testers.
With the general public you risk having people who don't understand what a Beta is, how to do testing, or how to report issues back to Apple making a big stink about something that isn't done yet.
Some dufus with a blog starts ranting about something needing to be fixed and it becomes a huge PR issue for Apple. Now you've got PR pressure on developers instead of them being able to work with understanding, knowledgeable beta testers? No thanks.
Beyond that, it would make it incredibly difficult to keep a lot of things secret.
Personally, I hate public betas. I hope Apple sticks to its past behavior and does this right.
I second that from a software developer's point of view. Testing is far more than just the "user experience". There're security loopholes need to be fixed in time, there're memory leaks that needs to be addressed and that also includes stability issues, stress test and there're zillions of professional testing methodologies just about that. And at the initial beta phase the user experience is likely to be the least of a project manager's worries. Just like building a car, should the engineers worry about the quality of the engine first or should they start off by fine-tuning the iDrive system on-board?
Furthermore from a professional point of view, it's easier to communicate professional testers who can describe the issue precisely. Having someone complain that "each time I open CNN in my safari it freezes" really doesn't help much I'm afraid. : (
No, I don't.
Let's wait until Snow Leopard is completely ready. I'm sure it will be worthy.
"There is a reason Apple OS's are far superior because they have good beta tester"
Right! You used any of their 1st release software? Apple treats all those who buy the first gen of anything they release as beta testers. Think Aperture and the first release of any of the OS X software, the first release of the iPhone 2 software etc. This time round it took till 10.5.3 at least and really till 10.5.6 to get it right and 2.2 on the iPhone to get it somewhat stable (but still having issues like Safari crashes)
QUOTE:
Right! You used any of their 1st release software? Apple treats all those who buy the first gen of anything they release as beta testers.
How many other companies do this?? First-release tech of all sorts has bugs in it! Hybrid cars, new-tech phones...big deal. Early adopters assume the position of finding the bugs.
It's a way of life. Pipe down.
Apple gives betas only to people who truly know what betas are.
I think a public beta should be apples next move. With the Windows 7 Beta gaining all the news at the moment (how many posts have we had on "mac-only" forums lately) and looking to be a very good OS apple needs to get some attention if its gonna stand up for itself in the forthcoming (for lack of a better description) OS war between Snow Leopard and Windows 7.
Does it matter? I rather wait for the final release and see a lot of positive reviews rather then loads of crap sites pissing off on the bugs in the beta. And Snow leopard versus Windows 7 ?? Man, windows 7 is still not even a match for Leopard, or hell maybe even Tiger !!!
I know that, you know that, most of the readers of 9to5 know that but we're no longer apples primary target market of the attention a beta would produce, most of us are sat infront of our macs now. The media attention would get the news out to possible switchers. And as for bugs ye there'd be some, I dont know of a beta with out them and it goes against the definition of a beta to be bug free, but surely its gonna be a stronger more stable beta than the win 7 one I mean come on its OS X, I'm sure an Alpha version would be a more stable build than a lot of gold master versions of windows floating around out there.
Grow a pair and learn to wait. You want early access? Become a beta tester the traditional way: become a strategic partner and sign an NDA.
NO!!!
Microsoft will steal of all Apple's new idea's if they release it early as a Beta. Apple has already said they avoid divulging too much too early, because Microsoft is a copycat.
As much as i would love to have a beta to play around with, i have to agree that microsoft will steal all the new ideas.
I can see your point, but the new all-Cocoa UI and the many lines of codes Apple developers are writing/changing/deleting can bring many new bugs, so a public beta would make sense. However, if this beta contains only the things we already know, the new ideas we aren't aware of could appear just in the final release, so microsoft would have nothing to steal (because Open CL is Open Source, and Grand Central is patented)
a fine-tuned beta will be made GM and that's it! it's impossible to do things in this way it's not lego my friend.
Why give the public sub standard buggy software to form a poor impression of it. I'd rather wait to see the final product.
Apple has said there are no new "features" on the front end - it's all to improve the underpinnings of the system. IF they charge anything when its released, it'll be very little. Also consider this: OS X is making significant headway in the market as Microsoft's share is eroding. Apple has been very aggressive about keeping the momentum going -- so they're releasing a public beta. Let the public compare both betas side by side. Let the media then give Apple free PR to talk up Snow Leopard and give that moment another kick in the pants.
Snow Leopard will show significantly more *snappiness*, better battery life on notebooks and a refined experience altogether. It'll rock, you know it.
I'd want a public beta to be released so the tech sites can take it apart and put previews and start generating any potential compatibility issues. I wouldn't want to install it on my Mac though. I'll wait for the final release candidate then upgrade to Snow Leopard.
OK, the fact is Windows is still the OS that the majority are using, having a machine that can beta test WIndows is not hard. However, for OS X, it only runs on, in normal circumstances, Apple's machine, if you are a normal user, would you go and get an Apple machine to test drive the beta OS?
Apple put 10.0 out via CD in beta format. It was a US$9.95 purchase.
Additionally, it was put out via CD because download speeds weren't what they are today.